The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-03-03
THE SALOON IN SOCIETY.
low the Roots of the Tree are Troubled.
E.on, tbe philndelnlia Record.

How the Roots of the Tree are Troubled
From, the Philadelphia Record.
"Use is second nature." With this
proverb Mr.. George Frederic Parsons
begins paper in the Atlantic Monthl.
for January, entitled "The Saloon il
Society,"" There is nothing, he says
however inherently vicious or dangerous
to which we cannot become so accus
toned as to lose sight of its evil qualities
There is no habitual apprehension among
the operatives in powder.mills and man
ufactories of the higher explosives
though statistics show that all such works
are certain to be destroyed, sooner OF
later. The most unhealthy trades are as
we'll supplied with labor as the most
healthy. Custom and conservatism are
sometimes so strong that men whose
lives were being shortened by breathing
vitiated atmosphere, or by inhaling
fine particles of stone or metal, have re-
sisted every effort to improve their sur
roundings. Exposure to danger begets
| indifference toit. Exposure to vice be-
gets Indifference to it. =
ARE WE AHEAD OF THE ANCIENTs.!
An example Of this truth is found in
the practice of the Greek mother in
abandoning. her infant to exposure,
knowing that It was very likely to perish,
and knowing that should it survive it
would be doomed to slavery if boy,
and worse if q girl. 1t was what her
neighbors did. It was social crime dis
guised by custom. A distinguished
ethnologist lately expressed the opinion
before the British Association that man.
kind had made but little physical and
mental progress during the last 5000
years or so. This may be questioned,
but the author asserts that facts are often
encountered which make it seem doubtful
if the race has grown very much since
the dawn of the historical period. There
is general disposition to exalt ourselves,
but if we are prepared to be candid we
may come to feel that the barbarism OF
ancient Greece is not so far behind us as
we would like to believe. We do not
kill our children, nor do We expose them.
We cherish their infancy, rear them to
adolescence, and then send them forth to
pit their immature vitality against skill
fully devised and comprehensive ma
chinery for running them.
A RACE OF HEAVY DRINKERS.
This machinery is the saloon, but we
are SO used tc it that we look upon it as
part and parcel of the existing order OF
things, as ap, institution which has its
proper functions in the general scheme,
and which could not be eliminated with
out creating painful void. The CHIEF
backing of the saloon, the writer thinks,
comes undoubtedly from our inherited
tendencies, for we are all sprung from a
race of heavy drinkers. The predomi.
nance of the animal life has not yet
ceased, and while the intellectual side Of
man is struggling to assert itself the old
Adam is too strong for it. We are a
nation credited with capacity for self
government, but we have a great deal to
learn aud great many crying evils To
getrid of.
THE DR1NKER GROWS POORER.
Beginning at the beginning and tracing
the saloon through society, it is first
noted chat the institution is planted most
tbickly where the poorest people live
Some philanthropists allege that poverty
is in many instances the cause and not
the effect of drunkenness. There may
be truth in this. Indulgence, aqualor, in
nutrition may produce morbid conditions
and probably strengthen inherited ten.
denotes to alcoholism. But whatever the
cause the fact remains that among the
poor the influence of the saloon is wholly
mischieyous. The man who browns
memory in drink does not facilitate his
subsequent proceedings. He is poorer,
in worse health and less able to confront
difficulties 10 morrow. But the tendency
to repeat the debauch is strengthened
The poor mans home may be uncomfor.
table, his meals unsavory, but if be
frequent the saloon their condition is not
likely to be improved. On the contrary,
his earnings will be absorbed and addi'
tional deprivation be the lot of those de-
pendent upon him. Tie drinking hus
band, too, often makes q drinking wife
Then the fate of the children is sealed
The saloon has orphaned them, and will
henceforth be their school and training
ground.
SELF. 1NDULGENcEA AND THRIFTLEssNEss
But suppose that the poor man stops
short of drunkenness. The evil will be
less, but will still exist. He will squan
der part of his earnings, and that he
cannot afford. He will neglect hi
family, and that he cannot afford. III
will fall into bad company, and that ht
cannot afford. He will most probably
also become one of the chronic accuser'
of society, who, while wasting their owl
substance in riotous living, foolishly ane
inconsequenty complain of-the poyert,
whose continuance their own thriftless
ness and self-indulgence are mainly &C
countable for.
sGOO,O0O,O 900 a YEAR FOR DRINK.
The Knights of Labor refuse to admi
aaloon-keeper or liquor dealer to thei
ranks, but the laboring element in tn
United States spends fully S600,000,00'
every year for drink that is damage t.